Negros Oriental Assistant Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion (File photo)
DUMAGUETE CITY – At least 10 households in Barangay Nagbo-alao in Basay, Negros Oriental are now placed under granular lockdown starting Friday due to a surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases.
In a virtual press briefing, Assistant Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Liland Estacion, Covid-19 incident commander of the province’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said she will be sending a team on Saturday to determine the current situation in the area.
She said Dr. Jacqueline Valencia, Basay municipal health officer, told her that the households under lockdown are in one “purok” or cluster in Nagbo-alao.
Estacion said there are suspicions of the Delta variant affecting these households, although this can only be confirmed once specimen samples from those infected are sent to the Philippine Genome Center for genome sequencing.
It was not immediately known as to how many individuals were infected but Estacion said based on throat swab test results, many of those who tested positive for the coronavirus in Basay carry the same surname.
"We will know more after our investigation is conducted," she said.
In the meantime, she reassured the public that the infected persons in these households are now isolated and the situation is “contained”.
Meanwhile, of the 76 new positive Covid-19 cases reported in the province on Friday, Basay had the highest with 18 infections.
The total caseload in Negros Oriental is 11,410 with 10,673 recoveries, 502 active positive cases, and 235 deaths.
Estacion has called on the people to limit their movements as Covid-19 cases are on the rise again in Negros Oriental, with a daily average of 70 infections in the past three days.
While there is no sign yet of the spread of the Delta variant in the province, Estacion said they are now considering this possibility after the first four cases of the more transmissible Covid-19 variant were reported here last week. (PNA)
